


pull up to the second window

by calembours



Series: every other life (AUs) [1]
Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-01 05:29:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10915299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calembours/pseuds/calembours
Summary: What if Clint worked the drive-thru at a Taco Bell and Loki was a regular that came through in the early AM?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Don't read this while hungry. 
> 
> Also I've never been to or worked at either of these places, so have mercy on me.

**_Saturday, mid May_ **

Every Saturday night like clockwork, one of Clint's regulars came through the Taco Bell drive-thru shortly after one in the morning. "Welcome to Taco Bell drive-thru," Clint said hopefully into the headset, "What can I get for you?"

"Hey, Clint." The voice was young, dry and precise, belonging to his regular, Loki.

"Heeey," Clint said, with a grin, leaning on the till. "How's life at the CEC?"

Loki sighed heavily at him, but spoke like he had been waiting all night for the chance to vent about his shift at Chuck-E-Cheese. "I'm fresh off three back-to-back parties, don't even _start_ with me."

Sympathetically, Clint asked, "Did you get cake?"

"No, Clint. I did not get cake. I did not get ice cream, and I didn't get a break at all." Another heavy sigh. "Smother a burrito for me, would you? Smother _two_ for me."

"Smothering burritos," Clint said, punching in the order. He went around to the make them, adding bacon (and extra bacon) for free - it sounded like Loki needed it. "Drink?"

"Not the kind you're selling."

Clint laughed, packing the burritos with chicken and rice, with a little less beans since Loki only liked them 'for taste'. "Dunno man, we have that spiked lemonade now."

It sounded like Loki was smiling, but Clint could never tell for sure when they were talking over the speaker. "Don't need an enabler, thanks. I'll take a coffee."

"$9.87, first window." Clint finished packing up the burritos and added a packet of cinnamon twists to the take out bag.If it stayed on the rack any longer, Clint would probably resort to eating it himself. Not that he was strictly opposed to that, it's just that sometimes his stomach was.

Loki looked like as much of a hot mess as usual, still in his bright orange work shirt and shoulder-length hair yanked back in a messy tail. He was younger than Clint, just finishing up his last year of high school while Clint was on a gap year before college. He handed over a wrinkled bill and leaned out his car window while Clint rang him through. "You always say that like there's someone else working with you."

"There could be," Clint said defensively.

There was definitely a smile this time, and Clint struggled not to turn specifically to look at it. "But there isn't."

"I have operational standards," Clint insisted, and handed him the change. "Food at the second window."

When he opened the second window, Loki was waiting, looking tiredly amused. "You have operational standards."

"I do!" Clint _did_. That's why he was night shift manager and had been for a long time. For some reason, having Loki question it made him angry - even though it was a shitty fast food job, it was _his_ shitty fast food job and he was good at it. He dumped a handful of hot sauce into the take-out bag and handed it over to Loki. "Geez dude, coming to _my_ house-"

Loki waved a hand, took everything as Clint gave it to him. "Easy, sorry. Long day." He looked properly apologetic when Clint returned with his coffee, and they lingered at the window together.

Clint sipped from his cup of Baha Blast and leaned against the window ledge, sighing a little. "It's just. This is my job, okay. It pays for shit. I'd like to keep affording to buy things."

"Preaching to the choir, darling." Loki saluted with his coffee.

They talked about nothing for another ten minutes before Loki left, and Clint went back to the rest of his midnight shift.

 

_**Saturday, early June  
** _

"Welcome to Taco Bell drive-thru, what can I get you?"

"Hey, Clint."

Clint startled upright, knocking a sleeve of cups off the counter that he was restocking. "Loki! I mean, Loki, hey." He glanced over at the clock on the wall and saw it was close to 2AM. "Didn't think you were coming by tonight."

"Me neither." There was a loud crackle of the wind over the speaker, and just when Clint was starting to get worried, "Did you know that when you ask for a cheese pizza...you get sauce on the pizza?"

Clint blinked, but went with it. "Uh, yeah. That's how a pizza works."

"Right?" Loki took a deep breath. "But not according to Mrs. Vandvelden and her screaming party of eight, oh no. A cheese pizza is supposed to be _crust and cheese_ that's it. Because her kids are allergic to tomatoes, and _how dare I try to poison them_."

"Woo boy," Clint muttered.

"And _why_ does it take so long to remake all those pizzas for Mrs. Vandvelden and her party of eight, anyway? It's just cheese on a pizza crust, she could do that in _five minutes_ at home."

"Coffee," Clint guessed, punching it into the register. "Crunch wraps?"

"Spicy ones," Loki said lowly. "And a couple of those cheese roll up things."

"And potatoes?"

"God, yeah. Extra sour cream."

Clint laughed. "You got it. $8.47, first window." There was a ten-dollar bill waiting for him under the debit machine when Clint returned, and Loki had already pulled ahead. 

At the second window, Clint handed him the drink. "Just a sec for the food." He grinned at Loki, who looked _exhausted_ , slumped in his seat, obviously operating on autopilot. "I mean, I know you could do it in five minutes at home, and everything-"

Loki barked a laugh, but some of the tension went out of his shoulders. He cradled his coffee like a life line, sipping it carefully between both hands. "Get my tacos, asshole."

"I'll have you know, I make to order, dickwipe." He disappeared into the kitchen, pulling together the order while humming to himself. When Clint came back there was a pair of pizza boxes stacked in the open window. Loki was leaning on his steering wheel, smiling at him.

"What's this for?" Clint asked, a little dumbfounded.

"It's pizza." Loki said, "Typically you eat it."

Loki being a smart-ass had the side effect of kicking Clint's smart-ass tendencies into gear. "You mean there's food other than what's been given to humanity by the Taco Bell gods?" He crossed himself with an empty take-out bag sitting beside the window. "Locos Tacos, save my guac-a-soul-eh."

"Bad," Loki said immediately, but he looked like he was struggling not to laugh. "Absolutely terrible. I regret bringing you pizza."

"Mrs Vandvelden's saucy pizza," Clint assumed, handing over Loki's food.

" _Free_ pizza," Loki countered. He made a motion like he intended on taking the boxes back, "Unless you don't-"

Clint grabbed them before Loki could, even though it made Loki look very smug when he held the boxes to his chest. "No take-backsies. My present."

"Charity," Loki said immediately, the smug smile dropping away to something slightly embarrassed. "That's not - it's just-"

"It's okay to bring me presents, Lo." Clint said. When he peered into the top pizza box he sighed with satisfaction; the pizza was still hot. "Cheesy, delicious presents."

Clint missed the look on Loki's face when he announced, "I'm leaving," and promptly drove away.

 

_**Saturday, late June** _

When Clint walked into a Chuck-e-Cheese for the first time, suddenly a lot of things about Loki made more sense. It was loud, bright, and something of a controlled chaos with children screaming and parents drinking wine out of dixie cups. It sort of made Clint want to throw up, or maybe play a lot of whack-a-mole.

"Thanks for coming along," Kate said, with a slap to Clint's shoulder. It was her daughter's birthday party, and as Clint's god-daughter, he was along for the ride. It had nothing to do with the fact that maybe Loki was working. There was only one Chuck-e-cheese in town, and it was after eight o'clock on a Saturday. It was _prime_ Loki time.

"Yeah, no problem," Clint said when he sank down into their assigned booth. He spotted two employees in orange shirts, but neither of them were Loki. He stretched back for a look at the prize counter when Kate pinched his side. " _Ow_ what the hell?"

"Who are you looking for?" She asked bemusedly. Kate looked over her sunglasses at him, perfect eyebrows quirked in his direction. "We took a headcount, all the brats are still here."

Clint nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm. Just looking."

"Just looking." Kate didn't sound convinced. Clint didn't feel convincing.

"Server," he said, "So we can order pizza."

Kate squinted at him this time. "We ordered when we booked. What's going on with you?"

"Nothing!" Clint stood up and narrowly avoided taking out someone else's kid. "Gonna go supervise. Chaperone. Do a headcount."

"Clint..." Kate said, but he was already walking away. The games floor was a minefield of children and it took longer than expected for Clint to find all eight of the kids that they had brought. He played a couple of games of Whack-a-Mole and helped one of the girls with the skee-ball game before spotting their pizza going to their table. He rounded up all the kids and squished in beside Kate, who promptly dropped a set of mouse ears on his head.

Clint still hadn't spotted Loki so he gave up looking and tried to have a good time with Kate, his god-child, and her friends. They ate too much food, sang too loudly, and then had too much cake. It was getting close to ten o'clock when their party host came by to let them know that they were starting to close up. Clint started hauling groups of three at a time to the bathroom to wash up when he ran into an employee coming out of the staff room.

"Sh-oot," he recovered, catching the guy by the elbow. "Sorry, got used to looking down for people." Belatedly, he recognizes the man in front of him - knows the dark hair pulled back in a stupid ponytail, and the green eyes that look a little like he had been contemplating murder all night. "Oh," Clint said. It's Loki, and he's _way_ taller than Clint had been expecting. "Uh, hey. Loki."

"Clint?" Loki blinked at him, looking just as surprised. He has flour on the front of his shirt and is carrying a wrapped roll of tickets under one arm. "What are you doing here?"

"Party," Clint said haltingly, "God-kid. I didn't see you out there - I mean, you working the back? I mean."

Loki nodded slowly. He shifted the ticket roll to his other arm. "Short staffed, I'm all over tonight, but mostly the kitchen." He looked at Clint, gave him an up-and-down that made Clint want to flex a little. "Never seen you in real people clothing," he said.

Clint looked down at this plaid shirt (shit, it was off by one button) and favourite pair of faded jeans. "Hey, I wear things."

Loki grinned at him like a fox would grin at a chicken coop, "I see that."

The bathroom doors open at that point and Clint's mobbed by three of his kids, all with semi-dried hands and a complex story to tell him. When he looked up again, Loki had vanished and Kate was watching him from across the room with her eyebrows raised.

"Later," Clint promised her.

"You'd better," she threatened.

 

_**Sunday, mid July** _

"Welcome to Java Shots drive-thru, what can I get you?" 

"...uh. Clint?"

"...Loki?"

It's the first time that they had seen each other at Clint's other job, the one that he worked after his Taco Bell night shifts. Clint swapped his black taco gear for a bright purple polo and visor, both embroidered with a picture of espresso shots clinking together. Clint hit his second wind over an hour previous, and was honestly starting to believe that the smell of coffee was the only thing keeping him on his feet.

"I'm so confused," Loki's voice muttered through the speaker. "Did you quit Taco Bell?"

"Dude, you saw me like, six hours ago." Clint caught sight of his shift manager giving him a strange look, and a hand signal that clearly read as _hurry it up_. "Er, can I get you anything?"

Clint missed the first part of whatever Loki said, but hears, "-Red eye, and any four muffins."

"Five dollars even," Clint said, and then awkwardly, "Please pull up to the first window."

Loki's familiar beat-up Toyota Corolla rolled up to the first window and Clint has to suck in a breath so he doesn't say anything that everyone with a headset will hear. It was the first time he's seen Loki out of his work uniform, and it's a lot to take in all at once. He was wearing a soft green shirt and black skinny jeans, but his hair was _fluffy_ and loose around his face. Where it's tucked behind one ear Clint could see small, black stud earrings next to small gold hoops. Loki looked rested, for once, and his bright green eyes watched Clint from behind square hipster glasses.

"Uh." Clint automatically took the bill that Loki gave him, but doesn't do anything with it. "I'm off in ten minutes."

" _Clint_ ," Shift-Manager-Maria snapped from behind him. He flinched, fumbled the five-dollar bill and almost lost it in the space between the window and Loki's car.

His voice might be pitched a little higher than usual when he says, "Your order will be at the second window," and Maria closed the divider between them with a snap. 

"What the hell was that?" Maria asked him. She looked halfway between amused and annoyed with him.

Clint doesn't know. He's talked to Loki a hundred times before and has never hit on anyone going through any of his drive-thru's because doing that is _skeevy_. "I don't even know," he admits.

Still, when Clint leaves work fifteen minutes later, Loki and his Corolla are waiting in the parking lot. 

 


	2. game day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki saves Clint from sleeping in his car overnight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's this drive thru near by house that I frequent, so whenever one of these chapters comes out, you can thank that establishment. It is NOT a Taco Bell, however.

< SOS!!!  
< someone help me, it's not healthy for me feel tHIS WAYY

> Y.O.U are ridiculous, clint  
> what's going on  
  
< im trapped at work  
< help meeeee  
  
> if you locked urself in the freezer again  
> i'm leaving u there  
  
< IT WAS ONE TIME AND YOU PROMISED TO FORGET IT  
  
> i had to climb through the drive thru window  
> and lift 8 boxes of nacho cheese packets  
> just 2 get ur stupid face out of the cold storage  
> i will never forget  
  
< but i paidyou back in tacos  
  
> and u will continue 2  
  
< you just like me for my job loki  
  
> oh yes  
> my grand plan of landing a taco bell night shift manager  
> as my nacho sugar daddy  
> has finally come to fruition  
  
< I knew it  
< but for realsies i'm stuck at work  
< this is the last time I work the evening shift, i miss midnight crowd  
  
> clint, I'm the midnight crowd  
> stuck how  
  
< i know ;D  
< it's game night at the stadium  
  
> so  
  
< SO they routed traffic away from the intersection so ppl could cross unstopped  
< which means al lthe traffic is going through  
< a - the alley behind the TB  
< b - the lot of TB  
< c - both  
  
> ok, so

< SO LOKI I'm parked in the lot

 _> _ lol  
  
< ive been trying to get out for 20 min  
< my gas is under the quarter tank mark  
< and im hungry  
< I DON'T WANT TB  
  
> but ur in  
> aha nvm  
  
< save meeeeee  
  
> aw cupcake  
  
< and now I want a cupcake ): why did you do this

 

When Loki didn't reply to his last text, Clint slouched down in his seat with his arms crossed. He turned off his car and accepted his face, with as dramatic of a sigh as he could manage. He was parked nose-in against a residential fence, there was traffic at a standstill behind him, and he was pretty sure that the parking attendant wandering between the cars hated him.

"I'm going to die here," Clint said to no one, tugging at the latch underneath his seat. After a moment, he also said, "I wish my seat tilted back."

He ended up climbing into the back seat, shoving his course books and various car junk onto the floor so he could curl up without something jabbing him in the ribs. Clint played shooter apps on his phone with periodic checks on the traffic, until his phone died, and then dozed off to the sound of vehicles idling all around him.

Clint snapped awake later to the sound of knocking on the car window. He flailed himself upright to squint through the glass and then brightened, rolling down the window. "Loki!"

"Hey," Loki said, leaning in through the open window. He looked a little windswept, but good with his hair down the way that Clint had sort of become obsessed with. Clint wants to crawl inside Loki's soft-looking hoodie, and almost makes a good attempt at doing so before Loki's hands come up to catch his shoulders were he's leaning in. "Easy. C'mon, there's an accident a block down that's keeping all the cars in. You're never gonna get out." Loki unlocked the door from the inside and tugged it open, waving a hand impatiently.

"But what about Eleanor?" Clint said, even though he was already grabbing his stuff and rolling the window back up. Loki closed the door when he was out of the way, and Clint locked up his car with a double chirp. "I've never left her somewhere before."

"That surprises me, considering..." Loki waved a hand at Clint, like he didn't think it needed further explanation.

Clint ignored the jab, as well as Loki's crooked grin that he could see out the corner of his eye. "What if she thinks I don't love her anymore?"

"I'm sure she'll understand."

Still, Clint patted Eleanor's hood with one hand and then slung his bag across his chest. "Good night, El." He saluted her. "I'll come back for you, I promise."

Loki sighed at him and pulled Clint along with loose fingers in the pocket of Clint's drive-thru jacket. They wove their way through the cars and pedestrians in the parking lot, and followed along behind a group of kids waving team flags at one another. Clint shouldered up against Loki as they walked, their fingers tangling briefly every now and again.

They weren't dating, Clint didn't think, but neither were they dating other people. They both still worked their shitty food service jobs, and even though Clint had dropped Java Shots when school started, they both had classes in various buildings on the local campus. Clint saw Loki at the Taco Bell drive-thru more than anywhere else, even when Loki didn't particularly want to order anything other than a coffee.

Sometimes they kissed when neither of them was working, pressed together slow and unhurried in one of their apartments or cars. It made Clint's heart pound every time, his skin lighting up under Loki's hands, which couldn't seem to keep still under or over Clint's shirt. Clint couldn't keep his hands out of Loki's hair or his mouth away from his mouth when they were like that, so he supposed they were about even when it came to being clingy.

"Thanks for coming to get me," Clint said, when they were back at Loki's car. He had outright parked in someone's driveway, tucked tight against a group of lavender bushes. They both had to fight the fragrant branches to get into the corolla, and had to push the flowers out so they could shut the doors again.

Loki shrugged at Clint and nodded at the dashboard on the passenger's side before looking away. "Wasn't doing much anyway," he said quietly.

Clint investigated the brown paper bag on the dash while Loki tried to get back into the street, indicator clacking away. Inside were two sandwiches and an apple, and one of the Kool-Aid juice packets that Loki hoarded in his kitchen cupboards. At the very bottom was a granola bar with the word 'CUPCAKE' written on the wrapper in black marker.

When Clint looked over at Loki, he was doing the thing were he was smiling, but not smiling, his mouth curled at the corner. Clint couldn't help but grin at him, pulling out the 'cupcake' to eat first. "Thanks, _mom_."

"Don't make me turn this car around," Loki threatened.

They finally slipped into the flow of traffic, and the two of them relaxed when they were away from the cluster fuck of people and vehicles. Clint ate his sandwiches and Loki hummed lowly to a song on the radio, and they passed through the night in easy silence.

The next time Clint looked up, they were in front of Loki's apartment, which was closer to Taco Bell than Clint's apartment was. "I'll drive you over in the morning," Loki said, just a little hesitant.

"Sure," Clint said. He grabbed his stuff and got out of the car before Loki could impulsively change his mind. It wasn't often that they were at Loki's place instead of Clint's - Loki had a strong sense of privacy, unlike Clint, so when he was willing to open up and let him in, Clint took as much as he was allowed.

The apartment was fairly simple, a one bedroom with a balcony, and everywhere Clint turned there were plants in hangers or on shelves, safely tucked away from Loki's cat, Ikol. Loki believed in books, and blankets, and the colour green - everything was selected for comfort and Clint never ever wanted to leave.

Ikol greeted them at the door, meowing for Loki's attention and then playfully biting at Clint's fingers when he reached out to stroke the black cat. He had green eyes like Loki did, which didn't help Clint's cries of ' _witchcraft!_ ' whenever Loki called Ikol his 'other half'.

Clint waited until Loki had disappeared into his bedroom and came back in sweats, before asking, "You're sure you're okay with me staying over?" He was still standing at the door, Ikol winding between his ankles.

Loki dropped down onto one half of his couch with a sigh. "If you changed your mind, you should've said _before_ I took my pants off."

"Didn't change my mind," Clint replied. He kicked off his shoes and sprawled out on Loki's fluffy area rug, face-first. The first time Clint had been invited to stay, Loki had clearly been uncomfortable the entire time, despite his insistence that yes, he did want Clint there.

Loki ignored Clint's offer to leave, just like he had every time Clint tried it. His shoulders relaxed though, and Clint mentally patted himself on the back. "I still want a cupcake," he said eventually.

"You had a cupcake," Loki pointed out, with his grinning voice.

"It was a granola bar."

"It clearly said 'cupcake'."

"Calling something a cupcake doesn't make it a cupcake."

"But calling someone an asshole does."

Loki laughed lowly at him and got off the couch to sit down with Clint on the rug. "Somehow, I don't think that's the same."

"C'mere," Clint made a grab for Loki's bare ankle. "Lemme write it on you and we'll find out." Loki kicked out and Clint wriggled after him, until they were half-wrestling on the floor.

"Fuck off," Loki gasped, still smiling.

He twisted out of Clint's hands for a moment and made it halfway around the couch before Clint caught him again. They collapsed together on the floor still grappling, and Clint pushed his way on top of Loki, crowing triumphantly. Loki caught his wrists and Clint flicked one finger out as if it were a marker, straining against Loki's strength to try and trace the word on Loki's arm.

"Just lemme-" He wiggled his fingers, brushing the first letter into Loki's forearm. "Aha! A!"

Loki bucked his hips suddenly, and Clint went tumbling into the side of the couch, sending Ikol skittering away down the hall. It dazed Clint enough for Loki to get away, escaping out onto the balcony. Clint followed after him, at a slower pace, and stuck his head out between the glass doors. "Great hiding place, Lo."

Loki leaned against the railing, biting into his lip, his arms crossed. "It was here or the bedroom," he admitted, his voice low and embarrassed. He waved Clint out and motioned for him to shut the door so Ikol wouldn't get out.

They leaned on the railing, pressed shoulder to hip between the pallet shelves of Loki's small vegetable garden. Clint stole a mint leaf to chew on, and Loki shook his head at him, used to the strange habit.

"Too much?" Clint asked carefully, about the rough-housing in the living room.

Loki smiled wryly, and turned to lean into Clint. "You, always."

Clint began to take offense at that, but then Loki was leaning in to kiss him the same as always, like they have all the time in the world. One of Loki's broad hands slid up the back of Clint's work shirt, then back down again, his blunt nails dragging. Clint shivered against him, tangled his fingers at the hair drifting across Loki's nape, and tugged him down for another kiss.

Time slipped a little while they made out on the balcony, until they're both shivering from a surprisingly cool night breeze.

"You too," Clint muttered at him. Loki blinked down at him, his mouth wet and flushed, and smiled when Clint clarified, "You're too much, too."


End file.
